Activist and Author Wayne Besen To Be Joined By Married Gay Couple Who Met at Notorious Memphis Ex-Gay Ministry
Patrick McAlvey, Survivor of Ex-Gay Ministers Bizarre Sexual Therapy to Speak
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen will end a twelve-city speaking tour in Memphis highlighting the harm caused by programs that claim to turn gay people straight through prayer and therapy. Besen chose Memphis as his final stop because Exodus International’s flagship ministry, Love In Action, is based here. The multi-media presentation will take place at 7PM at Rhodes College, Room FJ-B.
KC and Larry Jansson will join Besen to share how they met at Love in Action while trying to “pray away the gay”. The two men fell in love and are now legally married. The Jansson’s story was featured recently in the Dallas Voice’s Valentine’s Day issue.
Patrick McAlvey (video below)will also appear on-stage to discuss how his “ex-gay” counselor in Lansing, MI used inappropriate sexual techniques during his therapy. As a result, his counselor was expelled from a network of such programs.
“The message of this tour is that you can’t ‘pray away the gay’ and LGBT people are fine just the way they are,” said Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out. “In Memphis, we will spotlight the stories of brave individuals who are living proof that these groups are fraudulent and sometimes dangerous”
Truth Wins Out’s Winter Tour has included: Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; Moorhead, Minnesota; Des Moines, Iowa; Lincoln, Nebraska; Stillwater, Oklahoma; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee
Besen’s multi-media presentation offers a unique, innovative and entertaining look behind the mask of so-called “ex-gay” programs. Besen is the author of two books including the critically acclaimed, “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth”. He is also noted for photographing “ex-gay” poster boy John Paulk in a gay bar in Washington, DC and helping expose the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’s personal “ex-gay” activist Michael Johnston as a fraud.
“This tour hopes to educate people in an exciting and memorable way,” said Besen, who has spoken at more than 100 leading universities, community organizations, business groups and religious institutions.
During his hour and a half show, Besen takes the audience on a whirlwind tour of “ex-gay” programs. Audiences will learn the history of these groups, the bizarre techniques they use, and the political players that finance these ignoble efforts.
In 2009, Besen was noted in Instinct Magazine’s “Leading Men” issue. In 2006, he was recognized in the Advocate Magazine’s “People of the Year” issue. Besen has appeared as a guest on leading news and political talk shows including: The Rachel Maddow Show, NBC Nightly News, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and the Advocate Magazine.
For additional information, please visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
